John Erskine, 5th Lord Erskine

Who was John Erskine, 5th Lord Erskine?

John Erskine, 5th Lord Erskine was a Scottish nobleman who was de jure but not de facto Earl of Mar.

He succeeded to the title of 16th Earl of Mar de jure, [S., c. 1115], on 9 September 1513. On 3 August 1522, Mar was appointed keeper of the ten year old King James V of Scotland and Stirling Castle. He had strict instructions from Margaret Tudor to hold the castle keys and set a password every night for the King's guards. The instructions were given again by act of the Parliament of Scotland in 1523.

In 1535 he travelled to England to collect the collar of Order of the Garter from Henry VIII of England on behalf of James V. The ceremony took place at Windsor Castle and later Erskine met Henry VIII at Thornbury Castle. James V had given Lord Erskine a detailed instruction about his precedence in the Garter Chapel;

"Ye shall purchase to have the place was promised to us next to the King of France amongst kings, and failing thereof that ye take documents to fulfill for our part and leave it so."

Erskine returned to London where Cromwell's servant John Gostwyk gave him a gift of silver plate, £20 to his companion the Lyon King of Arms, David Lyndsay, and 80 crowns to the Rothesay Herald.